Two Mexican journalists were found dead in a park in eastern Mexico City on Sept. 1. Joggers found the bodies naked with their hands and feet tied, with strangulation marks on the necks, described the Guardian newspaper.
The authorities identified the bodies as journalist Ana María Marcela Yarce Viveros, one of the founders of the political magazine Contralínea, and Rocío González Trápaga, a freelance journalist and former reporter for Televisa. This is the first time there has been a reported killing of a journalist in Mexico City since the offensive against drug trafficking began in 2006.
Mexico City Attorney General Miguel Ángel Mancera said that robbery could have been the motive. González Trápaga was the owner of a money exchange in the Mexico City Airport, and on the night of Aug. 31, conducted considerable business, according to a report by the newspaper El Universal.
Marcela Yarce was in charge of public relations for the magazine and she was not doing journalistic work and had not received previous threats, according to Miguel Badillo, editor of the independent publication. The magazine had been the target of intimidation threats in the past and lawsuits for its reporting on corruption.
This crime brings the total number of journalists killed in Mexico to 80 since 2000, six of which were against women, according to Reporters without Borders. Mexico leads Latin America as the most dangerous country in the region for journalists. Including this double homicide, nine journalists have been killed in Mexico in 2011.
Click here to see a map of attacks on journalists in Mexico from the Knight Center.
